The demands and expectations for precision long-range shooting have increased. As shooters increase the distances they are shooting, the caliber and recoil of the rifles required to accurately achieve those distances has increased; scopes are getting larger and rifles are getting more powerful. A problem with existing scope mounts is that while scopes are anchored to rifles using rails and/or scope rings, often the rails are attached to an action receiver by only a few small screws. These screws are often not sufficient to anchor a scope exactly in place after repeated shots and, as a result, the scope often shifts slightly or becomes loose. Additionally, scopes can come unseated or loose from a rifle when the rifle is stored in a vehicle or other area and subject to frequent vibration. When the scope comes loose, it requires the shooter to recalibrate the rifle before the rifle can reliably engage a distant target. In an emergency situation, such as a response by a SWAT team, a loose scope can mean the difference between the success and failure of the team.
While previous rails and lugs, such as American Rifle Company's Nucleus Bolt Action Receiver, Rail and Recoil lug, have included a guide channel carved into the bottom of a rail and a keyed lug that can guide a barrel into the same general position under a rail when the barrel is being attached to a receiver, these existing devices do not hold the rail in tandem with the barrel and the action receiver. In particular, these existing devices do not hold the rail in tandem with the action receiver in the forward and backward direction relative to the barrel's direction of firing. These existing devices also do not reinforce the screws holding the rail in place on the rifle against shear forces during recoil and jostling that may loosen or break the screws.